Lan speed is limited to ISP connection speed (?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter musemark
  • Start date Start date
M

musemark

Hello!

I have a pretty strange problem that I've not been able to diagnose or
solve through web searches.

I have a wireless network using a netgear router with 3 computers.
When transferring files between the computers (LAN) the max. transfer
rate I can get is 3Mb/s which is the same as the limitation I get on
the internet through my ISP. The max xfer rate should be 54Mb/s or, in
the very least with 802.11b, 11Mb/s

Here is what I've done to troubleshoot my 802.11b/g network:
-Used 2 different brands of wireless routers
-Used 2 different brands of wireless cards
-Formatted & reinstalled Windows on all machines
-Forced the wireless card's transfer rate to 54Mb/s instead of "Auto"
under the card settings.
-Used Ad-Hoc instead of Infrastructure mode for the wireless LAN
-Used 802.11b only instead of combo 802.11b/g & vice versa
-Connected 2 computers directly to the router (cat-5e) & had 100Mb
speeds so the problem is only with wireless.
-Used two different ISPs.
-Made sure that all wireless cards are receiving a strong signal from
the router.

I couldn't believe that the problem was happening at first because it
seemed so unlikely but now I'm quite positive that the bandwidth
limitation is restricted to the ISP speed because, when I was with
RoadRunner, my max. internet bandwidth was 3.8Mb/s & that is exactly
what I was getting with LAN transfers as well & now that I am with Cox,
my max internet bandwidth is 3.0Mb/s & the max LAN xfer rate is the
same as well...

I'm using WinXP Pro on all systems & the computers are all new &
powerful (i.e. not limiting bandwidth).

Any thoughts?

I'm at the end of my rope...

Thanks,

Mark
 
So, if you disconnect the ISP connection, you get zero?

I have no suggestions, although I would not necessarily expect your
WLAN to operate at the theoretical maximum - but 3 compared to 11 or 54
seems really lousy performance. Is there any way for you to tell how
many retries are occurring on the WLAN?
 
are your computers seperated by any walls or floors, or is your router
in a different room
 
The LAN speed would not be tied to your ISP connection. However the
thing to remember with Wireless A/B/G is that it is a shared pipe.
Meaning that all Wireless systems are sharing the 11mb wireless
network. Most people assume that the connection is 11mb to the router
for each device like it is with ethernet. I would say that 3mb between
to 11b devices would be about right. Also if you have a G router and
one device is connecting via G and the other via B you speeds will be
similar to 11b speeds.
 
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